Antibacterial agents have been placed into cleansing compositions for many years. However, not all antibacterial agents are active or present stable entities in specific cleansing compositions. Some antibacterial agents are easier to stabilize and maintain their activity in solid compositions. Other antibacterial agents more readily maintain activity and stability in liquid cleansing compositions. Antibacterial agents of the carbanilide family are well known to be difficult to solubilize and also to stabilize in liquid systems, particularly aqueous liquid systems and even in solids such as bars. The most well known of these carbanilide antibacterial agents is triclocarban.
A new method of solubilizing carbanilide antibacterial effective amounts and utilizing them in a solid cleansing composition has been discovered. The antibacterial active agent is solubilized in an alcohol ethoxycarboxylate. The solubilized carbanilide agent is then incorporated into a solid cleansing composition by standard methods. The cleansing composition having the alcohol ethoxycarboxyl acid also is superfatted by the alcohol ethoxycarboxyl acid. Additionally, the alcohol ethoxycarboxyl acid seems to provide an additional benefit of improving the rinsability of the cleansing compositions from skin.